


Dance Dance Avenger's Initiative

by RedTeamShark



Series: What IS Game Night? [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Arcades, DDR, Dance Dance Revolution - Freeform, Gen, Gift Fic, House of the Dead 2, Skee Ball, Tony Stark's Incredible Ego, Wac-A-Mole, avengers team as family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-30
Updated: 2019-10-30
Packaged: 2021-01-13 17:14:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,621
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21184796
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedTeamShark/pseuds/RedTeamShark
Summary: It's game night. It's Tony's turn to pick the game. He takes everyone to the arcade.





	Dance Dance Avenger's Initiative

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Weeglyfeesh](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Weeglyfeesh/gifts).

> A birthday gift for WeeglyFeesh! Happy birthday, kid.
> 
> This might be the most innocent thing I've ever written. No one even cusses.

It was game night again, and Tony's turn to choose the game.

(Well, technically it was Bucky's turn, but after a near-unanimous decision, he'd agreed to abdicate future turns. Natasha still thought his suggestion of Russian Roulette was funny, even if no one else did.)

And so the Avengers assembled in the tower, the lights and sounds of New York distant behind the glass walls. They looked around for the set up Tony would inevitably have, some complex tangle of wires and controllers related to the latest gaming system, and found… nothing.

"He does know it's his turn, right?" Clint asked, meandering towards the bar. Without Tony present, he usually became designated bartender.

"It was in the calendar," Bruce supplied, his eyes also tracking the room. The lack of _ Tony _ was more unsettling than the lack of gaming systems. "He marked it as read."

There was a quiet ding, before JARVIS’ voice sounded over the security system. “_Mr. Stark has requested that the Avengers and guests assemble in the lobby for pick up. And he has a personal message._” The audio changed, Tony’s voice overtaking the speaker.

“_Get in, losers, we’re going to Dave and Busters._”

Dutifully, if a bit confused, the group trekked back down to the lobby. Bruce pulled his glasses off, rubbing the bridge of his nose briefly. “We’re not college students, I have seven Ph. Ds. _ Seven_. None of them are honorary.”

“What’s Dave and Busters?” Steve questioned as the elevator glided downward. “It must be in the city, because he’s not misappropriating the jet for it.”

“It’s a bar that also is an arcade. Like back in the ‘80s, but for grown-ups.” Clint paused, looking back at Steve and Bucky, their equal frowns of confusion. “Yeah, I guess ‘in the ‘80s’ doesn’t mean much to you guys. It’s like the video games we were playing before, but at a bar.”

“Weird.” Bucky shrugged dismissively as the elevator slid to a stop, the group of them exiting.

Happy was waiting at the limo, holding the door open for them. Everyone slid in, unsurprised to see Tony as well as Rhodey inside. They were just about to close the door when thunder crackled, a flash of lightning blinding everyone temporarily. When the spots cleared from their eyes, Thor was also in the car.

“It’s game night, is it not?”

Well, he wasn’t wrong.

“So, full disclosure, this was actually Rhodey’s idea,” Tony started, nudging the man next to him. “By which I mean we were playing DDR earlier this week and he said that he’d pay money to see the rest of you get on the board.”

“Oh no.” Bruce sunk down in his seat immediately, shaking his head. “_Oh no_.”

“Oh yes, Banner. Just don’t get so frustrated with it you turn green.”

“DDR,” Bucky stated, fixing Tony with a flat stare. “Explain.”

“Dance Dance Revolution. You hit arrows on the floor corresponding to the beats in a song,” Rhodey offered. “I played a lot in college, the arcade near campus had a set up.”

“It’s an exercise in public humiliation is what it is.” Clint laughed, kicking his feet up onto the leather seat next to Natasha. “You’d probably be good at it, Nat.”

“Have you ever played before?” She watched his face, watched the way his gaze cut away.

“Hell no.” So, yes. “I’m a hand-eye coordination guy, not a foot-eye coordination guy.” So yes, and he was terrible at it. She filed the information away for later.

“There’s stuff besides DDR at the arcade,” Tony pushed on before he could get overruled. “Racing games and fighting games and shooters and they have some more manual things, like skee ball and darts.”

That got Steve’s attention, his head jerking up. “Skee ball?”

“Yeah, Rogers. I know that was around when you were growing up, hell, the trademark company was from Coney Island.” Tony seemed almost proud of having this knowledge, like he hadn’t been frantically scouring wikipedia in the car before everyone came downstairs (to be fair, he hadn’t been--that was what AI was for).

“Unless they’ve changed it in the last seventy years, I know what it is. Hell, Bucky, you used to win all the best prizes from that, remember?”

Bucky looked thoughtful for a moment, nodding slowly. “Giant stuffed tiger. Won it for a kid.”

“We’ll have to play some more after Tony releases us from the humiliation track of DDR.”

At least somewhat satisfied with the plan, they piled out of the car and into the arcade. Unsurprisingly, Tony had rented out the entire business for the evening, as well as purchasing everyone unlimited play passes. He led the way to the far corner, the DDR set up ready and waiting for them.

“For the sake of your egos, I’ll let you guys try a few easy rounds first.” Tony grinned, patting the side of the machine. “Who wants to try it? Romanoff, Barton?”

“Why do I feel like this is more for his ego than ours?” Clint muttered, stepping up onto the machine, tapping his way through song selections. He glanced over to Natasha at the other one, raising an eyebrow as she set her difficulty to expert. “Have you done this before?”

“No, but it’s just dancing, how hard can it be?”

Well, he wasn’t going to back down from that challenge. Clint tapped the difficulty up to expert on his side, pressing the start button.

Neither one of them was perfect, but they fell into the flow of the game easily enough, barely working up a sweat as they got through the song. The rest of the team clapped politely as their scores came up, a near-tie with Natasha only a few hundred points ahead.

“Not bad, not bad. See, it’s fun. Who’s up next?”

Steve and Bucky took the platform, toning the difficulty back down to beginner, selecting the random song setting. “No point in picking a song when we definitely won’t know any of these,” Steve noted, bracing one hand on the support bar behind him. “It’s just for fun, so don’t stress too much if it’s hard,” he added to Bucky. Just watching Natasha and Clint play had him pretty convinced he was about to give a piss poor showing.

The machine and possibly god hate him, it seemed, because the song that started just didn’t end. Tony let out a low whistle of laughter, shaking his head. “That song is nine minutes long, guys.”

“_Why_,” Steve grunted out, his eyes tracking the brightly colored arrows, feet moving to match them. His timing was off, the constant red pop-ups of ‘BAD’ and ‘NOPE’ across the screen. Next to him, Bucky was still, eyes glassy. “Hey, we can stop if you--”

“Shh,” he hissed, his foot reaching out, tapping one of the buttons. ‘PERFECT’ lit up on his screen, his gaze tracking along the arrows. After a moment, his focus narrowed, feet moving confidently.

Steve turned back to his own screen, breathing in and out slowly and going back to trying his best. It really didn’t matter in the long run, but by the end of the song he’d gotten the rhythm of it, the timing with the music, and he managed to rack up at least a few points.

They stepped off the machine, both a little red-faced from embarrassment rather than exertion. “What’d you think?”

Bucky shrugged. “The music was too distracting, but once I tuned it out, getting the timing with the arrows was fine.”

“Bruce, Thor, your dance off to save the universe awaits.” Tony gestured grandly to the machine, his gaze locked on Bruce. “Don’t get too frustrated.”

“Tony I actually, for real, hate you,” Bruce hissed, stepping up next to Thor. He also picked random, setting his difficulty to beginner. Everyone’s eyebrows raised when Thor chose intermediate.

“This game of arrows and music does not seem capable of besting me,” he explained, settling into the center of the board. “For I am mighty and--oh, it started.”

That got everyone laughing, the game popping up with more red letters as the two players tried to focus on it. Things seemed to actually be going well for Bruce, his movements decisive, his eyes on the arrows. Until his gaze drifted to his score, a wide grin breaking out on his face. “Hey, I’m not doin’ half ba--oh, crap, wait--” His steps stuttered, trying to get back on the rhythm.

It didn’t matter much, Thor’s stomping ending the match early as an error message popped up. Tony made a face, shooing the two of them off.

“Go play some other games, I’m gonna try to fix this thing.”

The group wandered off, breaking into pairs and finding different parts of the arcade to entertain themselves in. Clint nearly dragged Natasha to a large game display, hefting one of the two plastic guns and swiping his play card. “C’mon, House of the Dead 2.”

She took up the other one, the two of them shooting their way through hordes of zombies and boss battles as the game progressed. During one of the loading scenes, Clint looked over to Natasha. “Now _ this _ is just like Budapest.”

“You and I remember Budapest _ very _ differently. On your two.”

They shot and reloaded, aimed and took down enemies, until all that stood between them and the victory screen was the final boss. Some well-timed headshots took that down, the final cutscene and credits crawl playing as the two of them high-fived.

“We did that on one quarter. Well, one unlimited play swipe. Same thing.” Clint grinned, picking up his card and turning it. “Tony might have wasted his money, taking a couple of master assassins to the arcade.”

Natasha smirked, grabbing his wrist and dragging him away. “Come on, let’s try a racing game.”

“But I don’t drive--”

Across the room, Bruce hefted a foam Mjolnir, holding it over his head and laughing. “Check it out, Thor, I _ am _ worthy.” The Wac-A-Mole clone game, Wac-A-Chitauri, chattered and chanted at them.

“_Be Mighty Like Thor!_” The backdrop of the game declared, a cartoonish image of Thor summoning lightning draw below it. Thor frowned, hefting the actual Mjolnir.

“This game seems to make a mockery of--”

“No, I’m pretty sure it’s just for fun. C’mon, I’ll show you.” Bruce swiped his card, using the foam Mjolnir to smack down the Chitauri as they popped up. Simplistic but satisfying, letting out some aggression without worrying about the Other Guy showing up. He’d already broken Harlem once, no need to give Times Square the same treatment.

Thor swiped his own card at the next machine, the hammer slamming down as the game began. Bruce had just a moment to fear that something else had been broken, before he spotted the cord attached to the hammer. Well, that was good. He focused back on his game, trying to ignore the score that was piling up. Look at the end, don’t get distracted.

“This is much easier than the actual fight. There are none of the giant ones,” Thor noted, grinning as he slammed the foam hammer onto three in a row. 

The game ended, the machine spitting out a string of tickets for each of them. Bruce folded his up, looking around. “You get tickets that you can trade for prizes from some games,” he explained, pointing across the room. “Over there’s the prize booth. Most of the stuff is pretty crappy, honestly.”

Steve and Bucky were on their way to the prize booth as Bruce spoke, each with a heap of tickets in hand. “Skee ball,” Bucky laughed, shaking his head. “I was good at it _ before _ I got a cybernetic arm, now I’m _ amazing _ at it. You used to not even be able to get the ball all the way up the ramp.”

“I think the ramps got shorter, that’s all.” Steve laughed, his gaze moving to the doors. While they were the only ones inside, he could see a group of kids outside. The presence of the Avengers somewhere was sort of like having celebrities around. “Hey, Bucky…”

“Yeah,” he agreed immediately, detouring away from the booth and following Steve to the door. They stepped outside, pulling arm-lengths of their prize tickets and ripping them, passing them out to the kids gathered in front of the arcade. More than a few of them clamored for pictures and autographs, requests the pair were happy to fulfill. It was weird, being famous in the 21st century, but not all bad.

They were finally drawn back inside by Tony’s shout that he’d fixed the DDR machine, waving off the kids and rejoining the team. Food and alcohol had come along at some point, a table dragged over with pizzas and pitchers of beer on it. 

“And now, ladies and gentlemen, a demonstration.” Tony spread his arms wide, hopping up onto the DDR platform next to Rhodey, the two of them setting their game difficulty to master. Everyone watched in awe as they moved, perfectly in sync with the game and each other, racking up more and more points. By the time the song ended they were both a little flushed, grinning proudly as the machine declared a new high score.

It moved them to the screen to enter their names for the records and they took their time punching in names. The next screen probably should have been expected, honestly, but most everyone still let out a low, impressed noise.

The names down the high score board alternating, IRON MAN and WAR MACH filling it in. Natasha raised an eyebrow.

“War Mach?”

“They only allow eight characters for names,” Rhodey explained, hopping down. “Unfortunately.”

Tony snorted. “At least we finally cleared all the old ones out. No more TONYSTAR or--”

“Don’t say it--”

“HONEYBER on there,” Tony finished, smug. “Though I miss calling you honeybear.” 

“Yeah, we stopped that for a reason.” Rhodey rolled his eyes, sitting back and grabbing a beer. “You gonna do the eight thing?”

“Of course. I didn’t drag everyone out here to _ not _ be the center of attention.” Tony was doing something complicated with the machine as everyone settled in to drink and talk, finally stepping into the middle of the platform. “And this, everyone, is why I am the grandmaster of Dance Dance Revolution.”

A tap had the song starting, fast-paced, the screen full of arrows on both sides. Tony glided fluidly along with the beat, managing to hit arrows across the board perfectly on the timing of the song. Steve snorted a laugh into his hand, shaking his head. “Okay, we get it, you’re _ really good _ at this, Tony.”

“I’m a god at this.”

“Pretty sure no god would wear a Black Sabbath t-shirt,” Bucky muttered, grabbing himself another slice of pizza.

“Thor, back me up, would you were a Black Sabbath t-shirt?”

"No. Led Zeppelin only.”

Tony nearly stumbled as he turned a quick pout on them. “Awful, all of you are awful, I do something so nice and this is how you treat me. Rhodey, come defend my honor.”

Telling silence had him looking over his shoulder again, missing two beats in a row. “Rhodey?”

Still seated, he shrugged. “I think your ego can weather a beating. Though not if you get another bad in the game.”

He whipped back to the screen, picking up the pace in his effort to show off. Finally finished with the song, he turned, bowing dramatically.

“Thank you, my adoring public, I--”

“No one called for a speech!” Clint grinned, waving to the empty chair next to him. “Get down here and have some pizza, Tony.”

Admittedly, it _ was _ one of the better game nights.


End file.
